Okay, Maybe I like You
by ChangedMyname
Summary: Jess finally realizes. After her fleeing that dumb balloon, she realizes. But she can't tell Nick, that can't be an option, although maybe alcohol will help


_**So this is my new story. My previous stories were "A Night of Alter Egos" and "Winter Wonderland". Anyways after all these episodes about Nick and Jess skirting around their feelings I decided to make this, annoyed. Enjoy**_

_**I don't own anything involving New Girl, it's very obvious**_

She poked at her cereal with her spoon. She had lost her appetite completely. She was not normally a person who loses her appetite when it came to nerves. If anything she stuffs her face with ice cream when nerves get the best of her.

Two nights ago was when she darted out of the hot air balloon. She ran and ran until she was so out of breathe that she thought she was going to die. Apparently she had run about two miles or so before she found herself at a cross-section of a street. Her adrenaline made her forget everything and it was as if she was transported, not remembering the run. She then called a cab, got back to the loft, and locked her bedroom door.

What was the deal with Nick Miller, and why couldn't she stop thinking about him? This was the question she asked herself and analyzed all night until she fell asleep, ignoring the knocks on her bedroom door by Nick, asking where the hell she ran.

The next day she laughed off the running, saying she drank way too much wine at the party and was feeling really weird before she fled. They all seemed to buy it, except Nick. He looked at her oddly since the breakaway. It was as if he knew something she didn't.

Did he think she liked him? Did he think the kiss really meant something to her, even though he joked about it at the convention? Did he think that she couldn't stop thinking about the kiss? Her head was filled with continuous self-interrogating questions. For a little while she didn't allow herself to answer any of the questions, more scared of the answers.

But last night, that changed. She woke up, not being able to sleep because of her stupid mind, and went to get some fruit from the fridge for a midnight snack. As she was getting some strawberries she turned to see Nick standing there, shuffling in lazily, "hey" he smiled.

She uncomfortably smiled, then sat down on the stool, opening the strawberry carton. "Hey" she finally answered, not looking at him

"Winston just had a night terror" Nick laughed, "He kept screaming 'grandma grandma' and then something about 'the bad man can't get you nana'. It was really funny till I couldn't fall back asleep" he said before sitting down next to her, reaching over for a strawberry

His hand hit hers and she felt something weird. Before the kiss, a touch would mean nothing to her. Now, now it felt all warm and tingly, like when she holds a puppy. She looked up at him and he was laughing a little to himself, still from Winston's night terror. She swallowed hard, all the questions hitting her in that one little moment. That one stupid little hand brush answered all of her uncertainties. She liked Nick Miller; Dirty, un-ambitious, screw-up, Nick Miller. Her roommate and one of her best friends, Nick Miller.

"I have to go to bed. It is VERY irresponsible to be up at this time. I am not a teenager, I am an adult!" she scrambled off her stool and ran into her room, leaving a confused Nick.

So now she couldn't eat. Her realization made her sick. She didn't know what to do with this new information, and didn't really know how to process it. She shouldn't be so surprised; if she thought back to things it had sort of progressed to this moment. She must have been in some serious denial, which she wished she were still in. Denial was amazing. Denial was her very best friend. But that stupid bitch friend split from her.

"I'm telling you man, The Cosby Show is America's greatest sitcom!" she heard Nick yell, as he entered the kitchen. Her heart plummeted. What was she thinking still being in the loft with these feelings? Why hasn't she avoided this place? Stupid Jessica Day! Such an amateur move! She still needed to sort out all of these feelings and him bounding on into the room with his adorable stupid face and sexy stupid body was only making things more complicated.

"False. That would be Frasier and every stinkin' American with any sense of class would agree with me you idiot. The numbers don't lie" Schmidt answered as him and Nick both sat down at counter with Jess.

"Jess, what do you think?" Nick asked

Jess was dealing with a lot of feelings right now. She wanted to scream out 'I like you okay? Let's all just deal with that and move on! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?'. But instead she turned and fumbled her words "I uh- America- uh…..our country is good. Strong."

They looked at her oddly. Schmidt pulled her cereal bowl to him and suspiciously leaned over and sniffed the bowl for alcohol, before pushing it back.

"We asked you what America's greatest sitcom is" Schmidt said mockingly slowly, hoping that would clarify the question.

Jess nervously giggled, rubbing her arm. She was full blown panicking inwardly. It was as if a bunch of butterflies were inside of her and they were fighting even bigger butterflies with swords. Then in her brain there were monkeys battling gorillas. In other words, she wasn't functioning correctly right now.

"Friends. America's sitcom is. Best" she strung together as much as she could, and as coherently as she could. It was the best she could do for now. She was actually surprised she said valid English words.

Nick was giving her that look he gave her when she gave her excuse about her running from the balloon. It was the look that made her have all these questions in the first place. And now that she had those answers it was a look that made her further panic.

"You know what? I can't have a breakfast and be pressured to give you America's best sitcom, okay? That is too much pressure! I am only one girl! You cannot just spring these questions on me and expect me to answer them! It isn't fair! The questions confuse me and hurt me and upset me!"

Schmidt and Nick now looked blatantly concerned.

"We did ask her about sitcoms right?" Schmidt asked, as if he accidentally asked her something else

"Jess, are you okay?" Nick asked, almost nervously

"Are you having fever delirium?" Schmidt asked and got up, feeling her head

"No!" she pushed Schmidt's hand off her, "I'm fine. I am just" she looked down at her shoes, feeling like crying all of a sudden. She felt her face getting hot and she felt her throat forming a lump. She looked up, "I have to go," she said before grabbing her purse and fleeing yet again.

They both watched the front door slam, still concerned for her.

"Wow," Nick said

Schmidt nodded, "I know" he sighed and there was a long pause. "So we can agree Frasier is the closest to Friends so I was right, right?"

**Cece was comforting her friend**, who was now crying on her couch after spilling her confession that she liked Nick. Cece, however, wasn't surprised. She honestly had just been waiting for this moment to occur, it was just a matter of time. But she knew how big of a deal this was for Jess, and how confusing it was for her.

"And he has a stupid face!" she cried into her hands, as her friend squeezed her shoulder.

For the past 20 minutes Jess would cry, and yell another insult about Nick, then cry more. Cece would then agree, do an "I know sweetie" and make some 'shhhh' noises. She was just waiting for her to get it all out.

After about a half hour, Jess had cried all she could. Now, Cece had made them some tea, and they sat facing each other cross-legged on her couch.

"I know you said telling him would jeopordize things but-" Cece started

"No" Jess stopped her, "No. Just- just don't. Nick is my friend. We are buds. Pals. I have even referred to him as my bro before my ho"

Cece looked offended, "Am I the ho?"

"No you're my main ho Cece, you know that. You're my ho before any bro. But he was my bro before any lesser, stupider ho's," she explained, to which Cece looked confused.

"….thank….you?" Cece asked, not sure how to take being called a great 'ho'.

"You're welcome," Jess nodded, still sniffling slightly. "I just can't tell him. It really isn't an option. I will just suppress my urges and feelings until I shrivel up and die of natural causes at the tender age of 90" she nodded

Cece sighed. She knew Jess had valid reasons for not wanting to tell Nick. They were roommates and good friends, and if things happened to work out for a while, a break-up would ruin their friendship.

"Besides, even if I told him, what if he didn't like me!"

Cece let out a loud "Ha!" to which Jess looked at her questioningly. "Jess, look. He kissed you, did he not?" She asked and Jess opened her mouth to defend his actions but Cece went on, "he is always there for you when anything happens. I mean anything. I am your best friend and he runs to you even before I do. He said the no nail oath was for him specifically! Am I blind? Or are you literally not seeing what everyone else is seeing?" She was almost yelling at this point

"Yeah but Cece Nick is also just a really good fri-"

"Oh stop with the friend thing! Yes, you are friends, but I mean come on! I have sat here for almost a year and a damned half listening to you two bicker and fight and I have had to just deal with the sexual tension from a 3rd person perspective and I am sick of it! You two are the only two that don't know the other one likes one another! My little niece Sasha, who is 2, could spot it! And I am pretty sure she is a little on the slow side!" Cece was fed up at this point. She had known these two liked each other for so long now and enough was enough.

Jess was a little taken aback. So this was apparent to everyone but her and Nick? This whole time Cece had felt this way and knew it? "Well why didn't you tell me!" Jess yelled

Cece's eyes were about to bulge out of her head and she threw her hands up defeated, "I have tried to get you to realize! I mean come on, there is only so much one girl can do!"

"Well how about spell it out for me! I obviously was not picking this up very well!" Jess yelled back, now annoyed her friend had kept this from her

"You wouldn't have believed me!"

"I so would have!"

"You absolutely, 100% would not"

"I would!"

"Would not"

"Maybe!"

"No"

"Fine" Jess finally caved in, knowing she was right. She never believed Cece when she tried to convince her that either Nick liked her or tried to pry Jess into admitting her feelings. Until she realized herself, she was in denial. That sweet old bitch of a friend, Denial.

"So now what? I don't want to go back to the apartment. At least not tonight" She said

"Let's go out and get drunk. Alcohol does wonders," Cece suggested

And alcohol never sounded better to Jessica Day

**"I mean, I don't even care anymore**. I could totally go back to the loft and be like bitttttchhhh I like you but who cares! I don't even care anymore, that's the thing. So what? I like Nick. Who cares! It's just a crush," Jess drunkenly rambled to the security guard at the club

"Babe! Let's dance!" Cece found Jess and grabbed her arm, pulling Jess to the dance floor where they began dancing.

"I don't even care about Nick! Honestly, I am like soooooooooo cool right now about it" Jess yelled over the music to Cece as she did the robot

Cece was dancing more sexily and smiled at her friend "Hell yeah! Who cares! Boys are stupid!"

"You're getting married to a boy!"

"They are still stupid"

Jess went into some weird dance she called, the teddy bear. "I mean seriously, I should just tell him"

"Who?" Cece yelled

"Nick! I should just tell him I like him. It doesn't even matter. I need to live in the bow"

"The what?"

"I meant now. Live in the now! I just got to seize moments! I can't think what if, ya know?" she yelled to Cece

"Hell yeah!"

"Hell yeahhhhhhhhhh! Grrrrrrr" Jess yelled as she then turned into a bear dance and no longer teddy bear. She then put her hand on her friend's shoulder "I'm going to tell Nick. Do you think I should?"

Cece, if sober, would tell her to wait until she isn't drunk to tell him. But Cece wasn't sober, she was trashed. "Yeah! I think that is the best idea everrrr! Just do it!"

Jess pointed at her "Yes!" she yelled and then pointed more emphatically at her "yes. I am. I am going to tell Nicholas Miller that my mouth likes his mouth and my head likes his head"

"Yeah!" Cece said as she kept dancing, not looking at Jess

"I'm going to call a cab. Will you be ok?" she asked her friend to which Cece waved her off

Jess stumbled through the crowd and made her way to the door. "I'm going to do it. I am going to tell Nerk. I know it sounds crazy but I am going to" she told the security guard, whom she thought was the one she talked to before, except that they changed ethnicities, weight, and height. And it was Nick, not Nerk.

She then called a cab, got in, and continued to explain her game plan to the cabbie driver as she headed to the loft. She also belted out 'we are the champions' in order to psyche herself up.

**20 minutes later **and she was at the loft. Jess threw a bunch of bills at the cabbie, not feeling like counting them out. She yelled and ran, and stumbled, to her loft door. She stood outside the door now, and everything was spinning.

She was plastered. She had about 4 pink wines and a couple of shots within a short time frame. She was super confident up until this point. Now, the door was daunting to her. Did that dumb 20-minute cab ride sober her up enough to know how critical this moment could be? No, she was still drunk. But she was now aware. Aware of the severity of this. She took a deep breath.

"No. No this is good. This is good for you. You are a lady. He is a fellow" she tried to give herself a pep talk, "And you know that this is much more than a hunch" she then said, singing the Brady Bunch and now laughing to herself in the hallway.

She then stopped laughing, and straightened up, before fumbling with her keys and opening the door. She saw an empty loft and her heart dropped. Was no one home? Was this whole ramping up to tell Nick she liked him, for nothing?

She was losing hope but then she heard a door close and saw Nick emerge from the hallway, drinking a beer.

"Jess, hey! Me and Schmidtty were worried about you this morning. If you wanna know, we settled on Friends being the best sitcom. You were right! That damned show is a classic!"

She looked at him and was losing some confidence, so she reached out, took his beer despite his "hey!" and chugged the rest of it.

"I just opened that!" he yelled

"I have to tell you something and I have to tell you now or else I know I won't be able to" she blurted, her mouth in control now and her mind just allowing her to be. She was trying so hard not to slur her words and articulate as best as she could

Nick looked at her oddly now, "Okay? Oh god are you sick? Is that why you acted so weird this morning? Oh god what is it? Is it bad? Is it really bad? Is it contagious?" he asked now concerned for him

"No no, shut up!" she yelled, pumping herself up inwardly. "I like you!" she shouted before she could stop herself

Nick looked at her, trying to read her expression. She was looking at him, all wide eyed and glossy. She was breathing heavily even though they were just standing there. "What do you mean? Like, are you admitting our friendship?" he asked

She sighed "No! No, Nick. No. I like you like you. And I think you know that too. And I am sick of tip toeing around and pretending everything is fine and that we are only platonically interested. I am sick of lying! But you know that! I know you do. And I think you feel the same"

Nick's mouth was now slightly open, in complete shock of this sudden confession. He knew to an extent. He knew she felt something; he'd be a complete idiot if he didn't after her balloon fiasco and their moment after he said the no nail oath was a problem for him. He knew. But to hear her actually admit it, and knowing it wasn't all in his head, took him aback.

"So now you are just going to stand there? I am doing this big thing here Nick! You can atleast-"

Nick ran up to her and crashed his lips into hers. He knew she was drunk. He could smell the alcohol from as soon as she entered the loft. He also knew though that she wouldn't have said all of that stuff if she hadn't meant it. It didn't just magically emerge into her head.

She eagerly kissed him back and jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around him as he hungrily kissed her. He pushed off her coast so he could feel her more, carrying her down the hallway but accidentally hitting the wall instead but taking it as an opportunity to push her up against it as he kissed her. She ran her hands down his chest and he ran his up her thighs. He heard her moan a little which drove him absolutely nuts and kissed her harder if possible.

They then heard a scream, which immediately made them jump off of each other and try to straighten their clothing and hair.

'pop pop, no! NOOOOOO! Don't hit that with that! Nana can't protect him!" Winston was shrieking as high as possible in his sleep.

Schmidt then rushed out of his room half-asleep, alarmed. "Where where?! Don't hurt me, I beg of you!" he yelled, thinking there was an intruder

Jess and Nick side glanced at each other and then looked to Schmidt, "It's Winston! He's having a night terror again," Nick explained

"NOOOO! That's not my bike grandpa!" they heard him yell

Schmidt straightened up, "Jeez! I thought I was about to be attacked! I pictured my dead body on the newspaper so threw on these" he motioned to his dress pants. He then shot them a smile "Even dead Schmidtty's got style. Daddy doesn't do no shoddy National Enquirer photograph"

He then clapped his hands, "Now that I'm up I'll make some midnight snacking hummus! You two in?"

Nick sighed, knowing his night of defying the no-nail oath was off. "No I'm good. I should go to sleep"

"And I'm drunk" Jess decided to say. "So….I'll sleep this thang off"

"Suit yourselves, but once the offer is denied it shan't be re-opened" Schmidt said before starting to make his homemade hummus.

Nick looked at Jess and they started off to their rooms, disappointed.

Jess looked at Nick. He gave her a weak smile and she gave one back. They couldn't go into each other's room; it was too dangerous with a now awake Schmidt. Jess was about to go to her room, upset about the night's results.

"Well….night Nick" she said, dissapointed

"Night"

She began to turn to her room but he grabbed her arm. Her heart raced and she thought he was going to recreate their first kiss, but instead he spun her around, and leaned in and only pecked her lips before saying, "I do feel the same. Just so you know"

She looked up at him, to see his eyes looking back directly into hers and she felt those dumb butterflies in her stomach stop fighting one another and instead just flutter an insane amount. He then gave her a smile, and she smiled widely back. She was so happy she could cry, if only she hadn't cried out all the water in her body this morning to Cece.

"Night Jess" he smirked, before he turned

"Night Nick"


End file.
